One Time Offer
by Enigmatic Tathren
Summary: Jericho gets an offer that's almost too good to refuse- a chance to get away from everything on Raw. Can he leave his friends behind or will he stay on a show where everyone hates him? Oneshot based on my series.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: Yay, another oneshot! This is my birthday present to myself, mostly because I love writing Jericho, I miss Edge, and I felt the random need to include Undertaker in something. (Don't ask why I'm using Edge's and Undertaker's real names, but still using Jericho, Hunter, etc. It's just the way my mind works.) **

Jericho stumbled backstage, already sore from his match that had just taken place. He had had the misfortune of having to work with one of the guys who, instead of cautiously trying to accept him and his new group of friends, still hated them for what had happened with Vince. Jericho had been lucky in that he hadn't had anything to do with those people, but it seemed like his luck had finally run out.

"Hey, Chris!"

The shout startled him from his thoughts and he turned around to see his friend Adam "Edge" Copeland hobbling towards him on crutches. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too," Adam said with a grin. "And need I remind you that I live only a few towns over?"

"I'd forgotten that," Jericho admitted. "How's your ankle doing?"

Adam grimaced. "It's healing a bit slower than I would've liked, but the doctor thinks I might be able to return around Wrestlemania, or a little while after." He shrugged. "Could be worse, I guess. "Anyway, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I saw your match. What the hell did you do to piss the other guy off so much?"

Jericho bit back the indignant "I didn't do anything!" that he wanted to say and settled for a terse "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Okay…" Adam didn't believe his friend for a second, but decided not to push the matter. "Anyway, I'm gonna hang out with a couple of the guys tonight. D'you want to come?"

"I think it would be better if I didn't."

"Why?"

Jericho hesitated before answering. "Not everyone here is exactly over the whole Vince-thing."

"Oh." Adam felt like an ass. "Sorry, man. I didn't know people over here were still worked up over that."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't they be?"

"It's just that it's sort of old news over on Smackdown. I mean, a couple of guys don't agree with what you did but no one's really sad to see Vince gone. You know as well as I that every time he gets involved over there he just screws everything up."

Jericho nodded absentmindedly, thinking over what his friend had said. To him, it didn't seem fair that the only place where people were still hanging onto what had happened was the brand he was stuck on. "Listen, I think I'm going to head back to the hotel. I'm beat and my flight leaves way too early tomorrow." He forced a grin. "I'll catch you later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Adam watched his friend walk away, frowning slightly and silently hoping that things got better for him.

XXXXX

"Will you stop pacing? There's nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say," Jericho muttered, but he did stop pacing and sat down across from his boss, Stephanie McMahon. "What's this about then?"

"I got an email from Teddy Long today." She handed him a piece of paper and gave him a few minutes to read it, watching with quiet amusement as his expression changed from one of worry to one of shock.

"Is this really…?"

Stephanie nodded. "Apparently, someone over on Smackdown is interested in working a program with you. After some careful thinking, Mr. Long has agreed that it would be in the best interest of his show to bring you over from Raw. You would be guaranteed one main event storyline, as well as several other feuds intended to help elevate the newer talent." She suppressed a grin at the look on his face and continued. "Listen, I know this must be a shock for you, so how about I give you a week to think about it? Let me know your decision before next week's Raw."

"Yeah, sure…" Jericho made his way out of her office, still mostly in a daze. He knew, somehow, that Adam was the one who had made the suggestion to Smackdown's general manager. The timing was just too coincidental for it to not have been him. And yet, he was hesitant to call his friend and ask him about it, especially since he had no idea what he was going to do.

What would his friends do? Mickie he already knew the answer to. She had been furious when some of the other Diva's had tried to get her to change brands a few months ago (although she didn't know it, Hunter's influence was the only reason she was still on Raw). Jericho was almost positive that Hunter wouldn't want to go to Smackdown either; not only was he not one to run from fights, but he was safest on the show that his wife ran. Though he couldn't be sure, Jericho had a feeling that Miz wouldn't want to change brands either, given that he too was safest on Raw, where his friends were and where there was power in numbers.

The question was where did that leave him?

XXXXX

Monday night passed in a blur, as did Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. When Friday rolled around and Jericho still had no idea what he was going to do about Stephanie's offer, he knew he needed to get advice from someone.

"I won't lie, you are the last person I expected to be asking me for advice," Mark said as he waited to head out for his match. "You aren't on Smackdown, and I don't think the two of us have ever really had anything to do with each other. Why are you here?"

Jericho sighed. Truth be told, he wasn't quite sure what he was doing backstage of the Smackdown house show. "I need your opinion of a transfer to Smackdown, purely from a business standpoint."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Someone's interested in bringing you over, then? This have anything to do with what happened with Vince?"

"No! Well… maybe a little," Jericho admitted. "I think whoever suggested wanted me to get away from the people on Raw who still hold grudges."

"If that's the case then the last thing you need is my advice from a 'business standpoint'," Mark said with a grin. "Honestly, I don't know what to tell you. For you, the pay would probably still be good, especially if they're going to stick you in a high-profile feud. For some, the schedule is a lot easier and quite a few people find it less stressful to work on a taped show instead of a live one. The locker room is mostly okay, and no one's really pissed about everything with Vince if you were worried about that. But you knew all of that already, didn't you?"

Jericho nodded sheepishly and Mark laughed. "Listen, if you really want my advice go talk to someone over on your own show that knows you and knows everything that happened, not someone who barely knows you beyond word of mouth."

XXXXX

"Hunter, I've already told you, I don't want to know what you're going to do with-" Shawn cut off, frowning, as he saw who was standing there. "You're not Hunter."

"No, I'm not," Jericho said. "Can I come in?"

Shawn hesitated, before nodding. "Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"I have less than four hours to decide whether or not I want to take Stephanie McMahon up on her offer and transfer over to Smackdown," he said quickly.

"And you want me to tell you what to do?"

Jericho nodded eagerly.

Shawn sighed. "Chris, I can't. I'm not the one who needs to decide what to do." He paused for a moment before asking, "Did you talk to your friends yet?"

"Of course not!" Jericho snapped. "None of _them_ would take the offer, and I don't want them to know I'm seriously considering it!"

"Talk to them," Shawn said firmly. "They're your friends, and what they say may surprise you."

And so it was that, with time quickly running out, Jericho's friends watched worriedly as he paced frantically around their locker room, lost in thought. They had tried to get him to tell them what was wrong, but every time it looked like he was finally going to talk he seemed to change his mind.

"Damnit, Chris, will you just tell us what the hell is going on?" Hunter finally snapped. "It's less than ten minutes until the show starts and you can't keep doing this all night."

Jericho spun around to face his friend. "Only ten minutes until the show starts!?" His voice was panicky. "Fuck, there's not enough time!"

"Not enough time for _what_?"

Jericho ran his hand through his hair, taking only a fraction of a second to think things through. "First instinct, would you switch to Smackdown if you could?"

"No."

"Hell no!"

"Probably not."

"But _why_?" Jericho pressed. "Why wouldn't you take a chance to escape all the backstabbing and hatred that's still over here?"

"Because you three are here," Mickie said quietly. "And I'd rather be with my friends on a show that hates me then switch brands and leave you guys behind."

"And because I would never let those bastards know they got to me," Miz added.

Jericho looked at his friends for a moment, as if trying to assess the validity of what they were saying.

"Three minutes," Miz warned.

"Damnit!" He repeated as he ran out of the room.

"You had better give us a fucking explanation when you return!" Hunter yelled after him.

XXXXX

"Imagine meeting you here," Adam joked as he walked over to Jericho, who said nothing in reply. "Well, I guess it's not really that surprising since we're both expected to be at all the pay-per-views…." Jericho remained silent, lost in thought, and Adam decided to try one last time to get his friend to talk. "So, I was talking to some of the guys earlier and they said you turned down the offer to move to Smackdown." Adam glanced over at Jericho. "That true?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Why? I mean, I would've thought you wanted to get away from Raw…"

Jericho sighed. "I do, but not at the expense of my friends. Every second I was on Smackdown I'd be worrying about how things were going for them and feeling like I betrayed them."

"And you just didn't want to admit that you were running away."

"That too. Seriously, though, you really shouldn't have made the suggestion in the first place, Adam."

"Don't look at me," Adam said. "I didn't do anything."

Jericho frowned. "What are you talking about? Weren't you the one who suggested that I switch brands?"

Adam shook his head. "No. I mean, I'm glad that someone did but I only heard about everything from Mark. Whoever wanted you over on Smackdown obviously did want to work a storyline with you, so make of that what you will."

Jericho watched his friend hobble away to talk to some of the other guys, playing Adam's words over in his head. The more he thought about it, the more unnerved he was, not because he didn't know who had talked to Teddy Long but because if he had known the offer wasn't just a charity case he might have taken him up on it.

**A/N: Just as a heads up, next oneshot will most likely be focusing on Jeff and Matt again (yay!). Also, if you could stop by my poll and let me know what you think of an idea I had I'd really appreciate it.**


End file.
